Monday, March 4, 2013

Gluten ruined my life

Some would say it's a passing trend, that next year it will be some other lifestyle bandwagon to jump onto. Frankly I have to disagree with all those naysayers. Having seen many a friend and yes even myself being effected by the little bugger that is gluten!
Up until 8 months ago I would wake in the middle of the night in sheer agony, that if I were lucky would only last a couple of hours and at the worst which I happened to have experienced while traveling this summer in South America, where bread is EVERYWHERE and is so damn good how can it be denied. I ended up having to sit in a bathtub running the hottest water I possibly could handle to numb or at least appease the pain. 8 god awful hours in which my body was literally (okay maybe not literally) screaming at me.
My poor friend not knowing what to do, just waited around for me, well maybe she found a place to shop at but was worried nonetheless. But what do you do in those moments when you can't control or make something go away and you have no clue as to why its happening. Well I had a hunch but I thought maybe it was combinations of food that was affecting me. It wasn't until I stopped eating gluten that the pain has ceased, I am now 100 % free of the pest that use to haunt me at night.
Having to change eating habits is extremely expensive and hard.... and you have to read EVERYTHING! I mean cream of mushroom soup has gluten in it, not that I shouldn't be getting off my lazy ass and just making it from scratch. I just have to be so thankful for that little gluten free logo to make my life just a little bit simpler but not always satisfied. Some things gluten free just don't appeal to my taste-buds; leading me to gluten free beer. There are some gluten free beers that really shouldn't hold the title of beer...at all! I don't want to name names but you know who you are! However sometimes you luck out and find good one's like Green's (when you can find it) and now Omission a new brewery coming out of Oregon. www.omissionbeer.com Omission has found a way to process barley so it takes the gluten out of the equation, yet keeps the flavour intact! For those who can still drink all the wonderful craft brews we have the privilege of getting our hands on in B.C. try it blind... I bet it will be hard to tell the difference.

For those craft brewers out there that scoff at me when I ask if you will ever do a gluten free beer and you tell me that's not beer. I ask how can Omission do it and yet you can't! I was a loyal beer loving gal until gluten came and ruined my life. So here is a challenge to all of you craft purists! Come up with a solution so all those who love beer can enjoy it without the anguish it brings to so many of us... and at the same time make our taste-buds happy!